The U.S. Has Just Upgraded Its Biggest Bunker-Buster Bomb

A B-2 stealth bomber Spirit taxis on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. territory of Guam on Jan. 8. | PACIFIC AIR FORCES PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Japan Times/Bloomberg: Biggest bunker-buster bomb upgraded by US for B-2 bombers amid North Korea crisis

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Air Force has deployed an upgraded version of the country’s largest non-nuclear bomb — a 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” that can only be carried by the B-2 stealth bomber and could be used against adversaries such as North Korea.

A fourth upgrade to the Boeing Co. bomb, the GBU-57, has been completed and the existing inventory is being retrofitted, Capt. Emily Grabowski, an Air Force spokeswoman, said in an email. The modification “has improved the performance against hard and deeply buried targets,” she said.

Bombs known as bunker-busters have been in the air force’s arsenal for years for potential attacks against buried targets. The GBU-57, which is six times bigger than the 5,000-pound bomb the air force has had for years, could be used if the U.S. decided to hit underground nuclear or missile facilities in North Korea, as tensions persist over Kim Jong Un’s growing nuclear arsenal.

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Update: The World’s Biggest Non-Nuclear Bomb Just Got Better (Popular Mechanics)

WNU Editor: Sending a message to both North Korea and Iran.